Feeling Low
WE’VE ALL had the feeling of being run- down at times. And a long stretch of grey winter days doesn’t help. But I’m thinking of those who are feeling, not physically run down, but spiritually run down. This kind of depression needs something more than a few days of sunshine to put matter right. Devotions [...]
Revelation Takes Time
DID God complete revelation in the Bible, or does divine revelation continue today and throughout time? The night before he died Jesus said to his disciples: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” [...]
Talking of God
MOST people think that the concept of God should be easy and that religion ought to be readily accessible to anybody. But in fact, it is hard to think about God. Many find this puzzling. Surely everybody knows what God is: the Supreme Being, a divine Personality, who created the world and everything in it. [...]
Religion Matters
IN MOST pre-modern cultures, there were two recognised ways of thinking, speaking and acquiring knowledge. The Greeks called them mythos and logos. Both were essential and neither was considered superior to the other; they were not in conflict but complementary. Each had its own sphere of competence. Logos (science/reason) was the pragmatic mode of thought [...]
Why We Need Ritual
‘WHERE two or three gather in my name, I am there among them.’ Matt 18.20 We come together in prayer, conscious of Christ’s promise that whenever a group of people gather in prayer, he will be there with us. The early Church took that promise literally. After his Ascension, they followed Christ’s invitation to gather [...]
Religious Diversity in Catholic Schools
MANY Catholic schools have only a small proportion of Catholic pupils or teachers. In our Jesuit institutions in Japan for example, only 20% of the professors and 1 % of the students are Christians. There is no contradiction in making our institutions places of interreligious collaboration. Indeed, if young people of different cultures and religions [...]
Letter from Tanzania
August 2, 2010 by Websec
Filed under Tanzania Project, This Week
AMDG The feast of St Ignatius, 2010. St Francis Xavier Church, Mwanza, Tanzania. Dear Everyone, happy feast day! As they say here, on meeting anyone: “How are you?” “We are fine”. I hope you are all well and continuing to enjoy the summer. The five students from the chaplaincy – Bianca, Charlotte, Dominic, Katia and [...]
Good Friday, Joyous Sunday
ALMOST the first words we learn as children are: “It’s not fair.” There is a connection between what Jesus tasted on Good Friday and what any person who is unfairly treated tastes. We have our own Good Fridays and they are not unconnected to what happened on Calvary two thousand years ago. Indeed, what Jesus [...]
A Challenge to Darwin
IN his recent book Dr James Le Fanu offers a challenge to Darwin’s theory of the Descent of Man.* The publishers present an outline of the book, WHY US?, as follows (edited). “The imperative to ‘know thyself’ is both fundamental and profoundly elusive – for how can we ever truly comprehend the drama and complexity [...]
On Being Christ for Others
PRACTISING parents whose children appear to have left the Church are naturally upset and wonder what they can do. Well, we can continue to pray for the children and we can live out our own faith convictions, hoping that the example of our life will have power where our words seem ineffectual: but we can [...]
